Exploring life experiences at home and beyond – Destination Happiness

Departure – with a twist

Was woken at 1:30 am Monday morning, by a text from Jetstar advising our flight would be delayed in the morning. Departure time moved from 8:55am to 10:30am. This meant the wake up alarm could be moved forward from 5 am to 6:30. Luxury 🙂 I woke up super early and enjoyed the extra time watching the airport come alive against the majestic sunrise hues.

Arrived for an easy check in, but as per usual our check in gate was J !!! Handed over the bags and proceeded to border control and security. Had all my lipsticks, mascaras, eyeliners and moisturisers in my little liquids plastic bag. Popped my jacket onto a tray, removed all my ventolin canisters into the tray, placed my liquids bag in the tray then needed another tray for my handbag then sent them in their way to be xrayed. Of course, I was the one chosen for the body scan.

On exiting the scan I was asked to move to the left to observe my picture and note the images. The images indicated coloured spots and I had to suggest anything that might be the reason for this. I sheepishly suggested my underwire bra and cheap necklace along with the metal zip in my dress (yes all poor choices for travel wear haha) . I was then advised I must submit to a pat down , so stood patiently while I was patted. Passing that test I then was ( as always) chosen for the explosives wand check. Passed that, and was free to proceed to a cafe for breakfast. Yes …all that with no coffee!!!

At check in, although the departure board indicated out flight was leaving from gate 26A , we were told it was in fact gate 55. Deciding to eat closer to the gate we headed that way assured by the signs it was just a 7 minute walk – I do so love walks. Obviously they use a slow walker to gauge the distance and we were ordering at a cafe in less than 5 minutes including a window browse of shops – Tiffany for me, duty free liquor for Brian.

After breakfast we headed for gate 55. I wasn’t confident that this would be our gate as the departure board still indicated 26A. Arriving at the gate I decided to use my plane geek skills to establish which plane we were waiting on to be our plane. Worked that out, with the help of flight aware and flightradar, establishing it had landed at a gate B1. Not much help. As I stressed, I heard an announcement that …sure enough…we were leaving from gate 26A ( yes double 13). The board also indicated the walk time was 12 minutes ….arghhhh… But I had 20 mins and of course it was significantly less.

Gate 26A turned out to be a bit Harry Potterish. There was almost the brick wall to push through – well an escalator. This time checked with a Sydney Airport Assistant who told me her information didn’t indicate this was the gate for my flight, but she did a walkie talkie check and found it was our gate. The gate board only indicated Seoul, ports in New Zealand , Papua New Guinea and Norfolk Island. Eventually we were allowed down the escalator to the boarding area. Here we proceeded to boarding walking straight through onto a bus!!!! that took us to the plane. But as expected we had to wait on the bus while some late arrivals were paged. Finally I guess they arrived because the bus took us out to the plane. Rydges was visible from the plane – we had in fact travelled a full circle and not left Sydney.

In boarding we were advised to keep our seat belts off due to refuelling. Then we were told to buckle up for our flight – bitter wasn’t to be yet. Seems now there was inclement weather in our path so a new route needed to be approved before we could depart. Turns out this new route required more fuels , so it was belts off again. The pilot then muttered something about it being a much heavier jet now but the fuel was adequate for the trip ( that’s got to be a positive!!)
Finally we lifted off two and a half hours late- much to the delight of the child who had been kicking my seat for hour and a half on the tarmac ,and probably to the man in front who immediately reclined his seat on reaching out ascent height.

Enjoyed some cheese and crackers and soon we arrived in Nadi.

We were thrilled our transport was waiting for us and after an hours drive at sunset we arrived st Shangri La Fiji Resort. Starving we headed to the first restaurant we saw and ate a hearty dinner.

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A mum to 2 grown up children who always make me proud, a wife and a full time school teacher. I love eating great food but am not motivated to cook. Love traveling around this great country in which I live. Often found traveling with my husband Brian. I write for pleasure and if it's read (and enjoyed) by others then that's a bonus! 2014 saw me begin the 'new' me. Working hard at leaving the fear of 'what if' behind and replacing it with YOLO adventures. :)

Morning flights need coffee and lots of it haha. Not sure where you are travelling from, but Sydney has 3 hours for check in opening for international. Not sure about domestic travel. Have conflicting advise regarding an upcoming flight. Enjoy your flight and trip- hope its for pleasure.